Seattle Seahawks Player Spotlight: Breno Giacomini

Full Circle – You gotta love this guy

It’s hard to imagine pulling a 180 on how you feel about a player on your favorite team. Face it, no matter what team you root for there is always one guy who is a starter, and you think the team could do better at that position.

I hated everything about him. I didn’t think he was a good blocker against the run or in pass protection. I thought he was a liability because of key penalties of all types. It seemed like every holding call was announced as “No. 68″ and it always happened on big-gain plays.

He also always seemed to have trouble with the “bone-head” penalties too. Things like false starts, late hits and unsportsmanlike conducts just made me grind my teeth to the gum line.

Giacomini had been so bad that heading into the 2013 season, I compared him to the likes of Kelly Stouffer… OUCH!

But to his credit, Breno has made me pull a 180. I love this guy now, and I’m not afraid to say I was wrong, and I’ll even tell you why I love the guy.

Penalties

Breno Giacomini has made drastic improvements. (Photo: Getty Images)

It’s no secret that penalties have been a major problem for the Seahawks in the Pete Carroll era. The team routinely averages 10 penalties per game. In 2011-12, Breno Giacomini accounted for more than his fair share of all those penalties. In fact, 21 of the penalties were assigned to No. 68 during those two seasons.

Through 15 games in 2013, Giacomini has just five penalties. None of them is a personal foul, either. He does have three false starts, and strangely all three of those were in New York against the Giants. The other two were holding, both of which were in the Week 2 win over the San Francisco 49ers.

I realize Breno has missed some games this year, but still, that means six out of the eight games he’s played in he has had ZERO yellow flags thrown his direction. I don’t care how you stack it, that’s just astounding improvement.

The Enforcer

I can hear some of you already saying, “well, yeah; but he’s still just an average blocker,” and that might be true. However, there are plenty of players that were average or slightly better that brought something else to the team. Breno now has that quality too.

Breno has clearly taken on the role of “The Enforcer” on this O-line. That is something I NEVER would have thought I’d see him do.

Giacomini has a nastiness about him that I believe contributed to his four personal fouls in 2012. He likes to talk the talk and tell you what is what. If you do something he doesn’t like against him or his teammates, you are going to know about it one way or another.

Yet in 2013, Breno has completely eliminated personal fouls called against him with just one game to go. He’s learned to control the nastiness! In fact, he’s learned to control it so well, I routinely see him baiting defenses into starting “incidents” which lead to personal fouls going the Seahawks way.

The guy is not only nasty… he’s a freaking genius! You want guys like this on your team.

Could the Seahawks do better? Sure, probably at a lot of positions. The grass always looks greener on the other side.

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Husband, Philosopher, Animal Rights Advocate, and Author Brian is a Spokane native and Gonzaga University grad. Seahawks, Mariners, GU Hoops and Cougar football are the teams that drive his passion for sports. You can catch him on twitter too! Connect with Brian today!Twitter:@brisco811Email: BrianS@NWSportsBeat.comNWSB Facebook FanPageSubscribe To Brian's Articles Via RSS On NWSBLike Something I wrote? Hate it? Hit me back today I want to hear from you!